‘Batgirl’ Writer Gail Simone Pushes for Diversity in Comic Books

“Batgirl” writer Gail Simone has taken to Twitter to voice her frustration about the lack of diversity in the comic book industry.

She has announced that she will no longer be writing any more stories that don’t contain people of color or LGBTQ characters. “If you are a publisher and that’s a problem, hire someone else,” she also writes on her Twitter.

I am not writing any more comics without LGBTQ and poc characters, period. It’s weird we have to even make that declaration.

Simone has already been known for creating Alysia Yeoh, the first major transgender character written in a mainstream comic book. Now she’s trying to push the current boundaries by promoting minority groups and the importance of supporting LGBTQ creators.

There is a dream harvest of ridiculously talented LGBTQ creators at the big companies right now. Buying their books will change EVERYTHING.
— GAIL SIMONE (@GailSimone) December 8, 2016

Simone has a long list of comics under her belt, including “Birds of Prey,” “Deadpool,” “Wonder Woman” and “Batgirl.” For her work on and off the books, she has been praised as one of the most influential figures in the comic book industry.

If not for her outspoken tweets, her blog, “Women In Refrigerators,” regularly deals with the lack of representation of women in comics. For Simone, women should not only be used as plot devices, they should also be developed as real, dynamic characters.

When Simone began writing “Batgirl” for DC Comics’ New 52, which revamped and relaunched the company’s line of monthly superhero comic books, fans commended the writer for her treatment of the protagonist, Barbara Gordon. The series launched with positive reviews, especially due to Simone’s handling of relationship building, loyalty and post-traumatic stress disorder, a subject that is often overlooked in comics.

When talking about the series, Simone has noted that while Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) is one of the “smartest and toughest women in comics, “it’s important to see the moments where she is “most unsure of herself.”

“It’s trauma, she’s recovering from the delayed effects of a catastrophic event, something she’d always been able to compartmentalize before,” Simone says. “One thing the book is truly about is that the after-effects of something like PTSD or other trauma-related syndromes can strike even very smart, very intellectually tough people, even soldiers and cops. We have seen very little about this in superhero comics, really.”

Now, with her new push for diversity, she shines an important light on the lack of diversity in the commercial comic book industry.

“If the books out there that are TRYING don’t get support, publishers think only the status quo is viable commercially,” Simone adds on Twitter. “And it makes it much harder for the next person to try. Don’t let that happen.”

In response to this, one fan sent her a thankful message. “Thank you for fighting the good fight with us, Gail.”

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